U-shaped metal channel members are used by the construction industry for a number of tasks. For example, curtain walls on the outside of high-rise buildings can be mounted to such channel members when such channel members are used as so-called embeds in concrete. In such an instance the channel members have anchors (extending parts) attached to them which become embedded in concrete. The channel members are generally attached to the form into which concrete is being poured, for example, using nails. After the concrete has been poured and has set, the open portion of the U-shaped channel member (which is usually blocked off with a plastic closure during concrete pouring) faces outwardly along the wall of the building. Structural members such as curtain wall clips can be attached to the embedded U-shaped channel members utilizing nuts which fit into the U-shaped members and bolts which attach to the nuts. The U-shaped members have lips which extend inwardly and then downwardly a small distance towards the bridge portion of the U-shaped channel member. The nuts generally have grooves in them which bear teeth and which are positioned so as to engage with the lips when bolts are tightened into the nuts.
Such U-shaped channel members are also used to support light fixtures and other devices, in which instance the open portion or mouth of the channel members often face downwardly.
In most instances the prior art nuts have had a coil spring attached to them which extended from the nut and biased against the inside of the bridge portion of the U-shaped channel member. Such nuts are generally referred to as channel nuts with springs but are sometimes referred to herein as nut-springs for brevity. The attachment of the springs to the nuts is an expensive task whereby the nuts themselves are relatively expensive. Also, since only the springs hold the nuts in place it is not generally possible to preposition the nuts in the U-shaped channels as they will normally be knocked out of position during routine shipping and/or handling. In such an instance the workman would have to reach his fingers inside the channel, compress the spring against the bottom of the nut, rotate the nut-spring combination until the nut was properly aligned and then push it to the position desired along the U-shaped channel. In practice the nut-spring combinations are not prepositioned. Instead, the nut-spring is supplied separate from the channel and the workman carries a supply of such nut-spring combinations, compresses them between his thumb and forefinger, when needed, inserts them in a channel with the long axis of the nut parallel to the length of the channel, and then rotates the nut 90.degree. so as to properly align it whereby the structural member can be attached by a bolt to the nut. All of this is time consuming and even dangerous, particularly in high-rise construction, since the nut-springs can be dropped and can injure a person below. Also, the dropping of the nut-spring requires the workman to carry an extra supply of nut-spring or to go back for additional nut-springs when one is lost, thereby lengthening the construction task and increasing inventory.
Some attempts have been made in the past to fasten channel nuts in position on the U-shaped channel member so that they could be preloaded by the supplier of the channel member in order to alleviate the problems mentioned above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,952, issued to Kowalski on Apr. 28, 1981 shows a structure wherein the channel nut is mounted to a bracket which is itself mounted across the mouth of the U-shaped member and can be slid along the U-shaped member to a desired position. Such a structure is useful but has certain restrictions. For example, assembly of the bracket and nut combination to the U-shaped member can be time consuming. And, the brackets can be expensive. Furthermore, some modification may be necessary of the relatively inexpensive channel nut in order to make it properly mountable in such a bracket. Also, since the bracket rides upon the mouth of the U-shaped member it is not possible to snap a plastic insert in place over the mouth of the U-shaped member to prevent entrance therein of concrete in those instances when the U-shaped member is used as an embed in concrete. Another problem with the type of bracket discussed above is that each such bracket will mount only a single sized nut whereby different sized and shaped brackets must be maintained in stock for different sized nuts, thereby adding to stocking problems.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.